Spatially Resolved Temperature Measurement Using Rydberg Doppler Broadening Thermometry.

Authors

K N Trivedi, M Carminati, Èlia Solé Cardona, T Bonaccorsi, R Donofrio, B Bégoc, O Morsch

Published in

Physical review letters. Volume 137. Issue 11. Pages 113401. Sep 11, 2026.

Abstract

We demonstrate a technique for spatially resolved temperature measurement utilizing Rydberg Doppler broadening thermometry. This method employs two focused laser beams arranged perpendicularly to excite laser-cooled atoms from the ground state to a Rydberg state via a two-photon absorption process. Temperature is obtained through Doppler broadening of the spectral line. The perpendicular configuration allows for selective probing of a specific position within the atomic cloud, enabling localized temperature measurement. This technique, in principle, offers a temperature resolution on the order of nK, attributed to the exceptionally narrow natural linewidth of the involved rubidium Rydberg transition line. Furthermore, the setup enables the measurement of position-velocity correlations within the cold atom ensemble. The velocity information is extracted through the Doppler shift, whereas the spatial information is inferred from the arrival time of ions detected by a channel electron multiplier detector. We use our method to measure the local temperature in a magneto-optical trap.

PMID:
42789848
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 26 Sep 2026.

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